In known textile materials of the kind described in the Abstract of the Disclosure, or of so-called textile connecting materials or non-wovens, there exists a uniform distribution of the fibers of the loosened fiber material, as well as a desired cohesion of the fiber layer, which creates favorable circumstances for connecting the fibers to the fiber layer, for example, by needle processing, such as needle punching, stiching, knitting, or the like. Known textile materials therefore have a uniform surface, and the fiber orientation corresponds to the desired anisotropic properties of the completed materials (see, for example, R. Krcma non-woven textiles SNTL Publishers of Technical Literature, Prague 1962, in co-edition with Textile Trade Press Manchester, 1967, page 43, or R. Krcma, HANDBUCH der TEXTILVERBUNDSTOFFE, DEUTSCHER FACHVERLAG GmbH, FRANKFURT/M., page 167, 1970). Although a fibrous layer may be built up, for example, of fibrous flocks, because of its resultant substantially flat cross-section, it does not provide an adequately pronounced embossment pattern on the surface of the fibrous layer. The known textile materials of the aforedescribed kind are therefore processed, or flattened, according to specific desired properties, for example, so as to obtain a specific desired visual property, or a technically non-uniform shape.
If it is desired to obtain a structured surface, then fibers deposited in a plane can be raised perpendicularly to the plane, while a loop is formed by needles using a special process, or else the fibrous layer is structured in a special arrangement and shrinking of shrinkable fibers (for example, as taught in Swiss Pat. No. 529,247) may be used.
Furthermore, colored effects can be obtained, as is known, by the use of colored fiber flocks, by mixing fiber naps or textiles of different colors, by using a needle process, such as needle punching, stitching, knitting, and the like, to attach a differently colored fibrous layer to the material. Although products manufactured in this manner show certain advantages with respect to needle-processed felts manufactured by different methods, their manufacture, as described above, is, nevertheless, much more costly. Furthermore, such materials have the typical disadvantageous feature of needle-processed felts, so that they feel not sufficiently comfortable, when used as a floor covering, for example, due to a high density of fibers. For this reason, some needle-processed felts are hardly being considered for use as a cloth or as blankets.
There are also known needle-processed carpets, in which yarns spun of wool are deposited in substantially parallel strands on a carrier, and are attached thereto by needle-processing; this attachment of the yarns to the carrier is subsequently reinforced by gluing the yarns to the carrier by binding means. Although the woolen fibers are bound to one another relatively well by the twisted and relatively thick yarns, so that less needle-processing than usual is required, and a relatively good thread structure remains, the high manufacturing cost, and, the limitations for example, as far as thickness, color or pattern are concerned, are disadvantageous. In particular, any irregularity or uneveness between the parallel groups of yarns is immediately visible in such a merchandise. Yarns of this type cannot therefore, of course, be mixed, for example, with other loose fibrous layers, so as to obtain a desired pattern.
There are also known spherical fiber aggregates from German Pat. No. DE-OS 2,811,004, in which individual fibers are intermingled, but not twisted with one another. These consist of nodules of interlocked short fibers or fiber pieces, and are suitable as sealing material or as padding. In order to obtain an adequate interlocking of fibers, it is therefore undesirable that any large number of fiber pieces accumulate. As is known, however, interlocked or felted fibers represent an irregular mass which is difficult to disentangle or unravel, or an irregular mixture of fibers in crossed positions occurring at a high density from about 0.1 gram per cubic centimeter to, for example, 0.6 gram per cubic centimeter (Jaumann, Neues grosses Handbuch der Textilkunde, Fachbuchverlag Dr. Pfannenberg & Co., Giessen, 1956, second edition, pages 689 to 693, and Handbuch fur Textilingenieure und Textilpraktiker, Fachteil T 14, E. Wagner, Mechanich-Technologische Textilprufungen, Dr. Spohr-Verlag, Wupperthal-Elberfelt, 1966, eighth edition, page 293). Products made from interlocked fibers also feel heavy to the grip (Fischer-Bobsin, Lexikon Textilveredlung und Grenzgebiete, Verlag Fischer-Bobsin, Dulmen-Daldrup, 1960, second edition, pages 694 to 695). The known fiber modules may be only attached to one another by binding means, or through another material, for example by being attached to a carrier. Particularly due to their short fiber length of about 3 mm, and their dense structure, the use of these fiber modules is therefore rather limited. The fiber modules cannot be used for textile materials, when products of relatively low hardness and low density are desired, or if further processing of such materials is required, based on the structure of such materials, and without the use of any binding means, for example, for the fabrication of substantially flat textile materials.
There are further known (from German Pat. No. DE-12 83 084 or French Pat. No. FR 14 22 835, German Pat. No. DE-AS 15 61 65, or Belgian Pat. No. BE 682.175), ball-shaped fiber aggregates which have a diameter of about 5 mm, in which wooden fibers are merely laid next to one another, and which are manufactured, while they are suspended in a watery liquid, so as to avoid that they are dissolved or decomposed as a result of a turbulance acting thereon for several hours. The fiber balls separated from the watery liquid and dried thereafter have a density of about 0.02 to 1 grams per cubic centimeter, and correspond in their size to the length of the fibers, which varies from about 0.2 mm to about 15 mm. As the size of the ball-shaped yarn is dependent on the respective fiber length, building up of the ball-shaped yarn from fibers disposed next to one another is therefore dependent on, and limited to, the use of selected fiber materials. Fibrous aggregates of this type are therefore only suitable for the manufacture of modular plates, shaped elements, or paper.
Also combustible spherical fiber aggregates, known from French Pat. No. FR 898.980, are constructed of interlocked fibers, and therefore do not have any properties which are suitable for any other than a combustible material.